Eating a healthy diet is important, especially for those who are living with diabetes. Often when a person is diagnosed with diabetes, it is hard for them to know how to change their eating habits and how to make healthier choices at mealtimes. The American Diabetes Association has an easy method that one can use at anytime, anywhere, to help you make healthy choices at each meal.

The method is called the “create your plate” method. All you need is a little imagination and a regular-sized dinner plate (9-10 inches in diameter); no other tools are necessary! So let’s take a look:

Step 1: Take a regular-sized plate and imagine drawing a line down the middle of the plate dividing the plate in half. Then imagine that on one of these halves, you have another imaginary line that cuts it in half again so you will have three sections on your plate (one half section and two quarter sections):

Step 2: First fill one small section (a quarter of your plate) with protein. Proteins can include:

Skinless chicken

Skinless turkey

Fish

Lean beef

Lean pork

Tofu

Eggs

Low-fat cheese or yogurt

Step 3: Now fill the other small section (a quarter of your plate) with grains or starches such as:

whole grain breads

whole grain, high-fiber cereal

cooked cereal such as oatmeal

rice, pasta, dal, tortillas

cooked beans and peas

potatoes, green peas, corn, lima beans, sweet potatoes, winter squash

low-fat crackers, snack chips, pretzels and light popcorn

Step 4: Lastly, fill the largest section (half of your plate) with non-starchy vegetables such as:

spinach

carrots

lettuce

greens

cabbage

bok choy

green beans

broccoli,

cauliflower

tomatoes

onion

cucumber

mushrooms

peppers

turnips

okra

beets

Step 5: Add a serving of fruit, a serving of low-fat dairy or both as your meal plan allows (discuss this with your nutritionist or doctor).

Step 6: Try to opt for foods prepared with small amounts of healthy oils such as olive oil. Garnish your vegetables and salads with low-fat dressings, preferably vinaigrettes, or with a small portion of nuts or avocado. Use lemon juice, pepper, or herbs to add flavor to your food without adding fat.

Step 7: Quench your thirst with a low-calorie drink. Good choices include water, unsweetened tea or coffee. Avoid high sugar juices and sodas.

Chennai, April 12, 2015 – International healthcare technology provider Gather Health showcased its mobile diabetes management platform at DiabetesIndia 2015 in Chennai, India, and shared the effectiveness of the platform in helping patients control their blood glucose.

“There are over 60 million diabetics in India and all of them want it to be easier to be healthy. Gather believes technology can help improve the situation by creating access continuous support and education. Gather’s mobile and web technology bring together a holistic care team around the patient, including the physician, nutritionist, and family, so the patient is never alone.” said Burke Wise, CEO and co-founder of Gather Health.

According to Gather’s early research with over 250 patients across 7 clinics in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, there was a 20 point drop in mean BG among those with continued app use at 16 weeks. One patient even managed to reduce his weekly average pre-prandial by 146 mg/dl and post-prandial by 92 mg/dl after 91 days of usage.

“We are very excited to show the good early results at DiabetesIndia 2015, as it means we are one step closer to our vision, which is to help patients get healthier, and help professional care providers work more efficiently,” said Wise. DiabetesIndia is a registered trust which works for Diabetes Awareness Management activities in India. It has a large number of doctors as member of it, and holds an annual conference at every 2 years.

Bangalore, November 23, 2014 – RSSDI (Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India) 2014 was held in Bangalore in November 21 to 23. Nora Kleinman, Head of Science at Gather Health, gave a presentation and shared with the attendees the company’s vision of ideal healthcare for diabetes patients and how technology can help improve it.

“Key diabetes risk factors are creating a huge burden of disease in India, and most diabetes patients are not receiving enough care,” said Nora Kleinman, Head of Science at Gather Health. “There is a limited amount of doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers to meet rapidly growing demand for better care. Gather is trying to tackle the problem by empowering both patients and professional care providers with technology to generate better outcomes and improve efficiency.”

Ms. Kleinman cited research done by DEDICOM (1) that almost 50% diabetes patients in India are not receiving regular counseling and advice, and less than 20% have their HbA1c values in target range (2). This could be related to low awareness of diabetes, distress and frustration from family members, and lack of exercise habits.

“Gather provides mobile and cloud-based healthcare applications that leverage the latest medical and behavior change research to truly motivate and educate patients. It connects and activates physicians, patients, their families, and patient communities in order to provide continuous, holistic care for patients and achieve improved health outcomes,” said Kleinman.

Gather Health Diabetes platform, the first product of the company, has been adopted by partner physicians, patients, and families in Hong Kong and Indian cities such as Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore.

Citations

Nagpal J, Bhartia A. Quality of diabetes care in the middle- and high-income group populace: the Delhi Diabetes Community (DEDICOM) survey

About Gather

Gather Health is an international healthcare technology company focused on empowering chronic disease patients to improve their health. We offer mobile and cloud-based healthcare applications that leverage the latest medical and behavior change research. Gather’s headquarters are in Hong Kong, with offices in Beijing, New York and India.